Fight. Level. Survive.

Thousands of years ago, In the land of Thalassia, where the oceans were as vast and mysterious as the sky, there lived a man named Finn.

As a child, Finn had always been fascinated by the sea. He spent hours watching the waves crash against the shore and dreaming of what lay beneath the surface. One day, while exploring a rocky beach, Finn slipped and fell into the water. But instead of drowning, he found that he could breathe normally. It was as if the sea had taken him into its embrace.

Over the years, Finn honed his ability, diving deeper and deeper into the ocean. He discovered a world of wonder beneath the waves: schools of shimmering fish, forests of swaying seaweed, and even ancient ruins lost to time.

His parents knew of his ability and warned him to be careful and not swim too deep, as the fishermen had been telling tales of the sea monster they had seen.

Despite his parents' warnings, Finn couldn't resist the call of the ocean. He spent every free moment exploring the depths, pushing himself to go deeper and deeper. But he always kept an eye out for any sign of danger.

Out swimming late one afternoon, he came across an ancient ruin and decided to explore it. Finding nothing of note, he left the ruin to find the ocean far darker than when he entered the ruin.

Finn looked up and saw that a giant sea monster was floating above him, blocking out the suns light.

Finn's heart pounded with fear as he realised the monster was one of the creatures his parents had warned him about. Its scales shimmered in the sunlight, and its eyes glinted with a fierce intelligence that chilled Finn to the bone.

For a long moment, Finn and the sea monster regarded each other in silence. Finn wondered what the creature was thinking, whether it saw him as a friend or a foe. But then, with a sudden surge of movement, the monster swam towards him, its jaws gaping wide.

- Excerpt from ‘Chaos Abilities: Cautionary tales ’. Page 14 - Finn

Chapter 38 - Of Elves and Demons

They hadn’t slept long, apparently. According to Nays, It was just after 4 in the afternoon.

“How do you not know how to tell the time?

Defensively Mason replied, “I can tell the time! Where I come from, it’s just a little different.”

Nays smirked. “Uh-huh, I’m not judging you. You’re rich, powerful, and a Hunter I knew there just had to be something wrong with you.”

Glaring at her, Mason explained. “Where I’m from, they use little mechanical machines to tell the time. Here, it feels like everyone just always somehow knows.”

“You need machines to tell you the time? Thats weird. Where are you from? I thought all sapient races had an innate sense of what time it I.”

He didn’t want to give too much away, so he replied, “Oh, I’m from quite far away. I was bought here by an ACT, but I only remember bits and pieces.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Nays. It was more that he already kind of regretted telling Mayry everything the moment he met her. It was probably the combination of being overwhelmed by his appearance in this new world, being so relieved to find another person and being so desperate for answers that had resulted in the verbal diarrhoea. He knew he had to do better.

Seeing that Demon also reminded him he desperately needed to train, level and get stronger. Today was a net loss of two levels, so he needed to kick it up a notch. Hadn’t Mayry mentioned a trainer? He really needed to get back in her good graces.

They were on their way back to Town and were chatting about this and that, mostly small things. Mason was enjoying the conversation until Nays asked, seemingly out of nowhere, “Why did you say it?”

“Nays I-” Mason hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

Nays continues, “I’ve heard of people saying it as like a last resort. When things were so bad that any change would be a good one, that wasp scared me, but you didn’t look fazed. Then you said what you said, and then… I.. You. I don’t know…. Demons and Elves have a long history. Elves can live a long, long time, and some can even remember the war. That thing, it was a Demon, wasn’t it? A real one?”

“It was an echo. Not really truly a Demon, but hopefully, it was as close as we’ll ever see. I didn’t mean to say it. Nays, Im so sorry I put you in danger.”

After a few moments of silence, Nays replied, “It’s okay. I mean, you also saved me, so I guess I can’t be that mad at you. It s just it was the most scared I’ve ever been.

“Me too, but we’re okay now. We’re safe.” In an attempt to change the subject, Mason asked, “Did your ability upgrade?”

“I don’t think so, I haven’t noticed any changes.”

“That’s a shame. Would you want to go hunting again sometime?

Nays looked like she was deep in thought before she answered, “I’m up for it. IF you don’t invite the demon.”

Mason chuckled. “Deal.”

“…Or the echo.”

Mason gave Nays a questioning look until he realised she was calling Mayry a demon.

He rolled his eyes and said. “You know, you two would get better if you both tried a little.”

“Hmm, I don’t know, there’s just something about her I don’t like. Plus, she doesn’t like me either, so….” She finished with a shrug.

As they walked, the Town came into view. From what he could see, there was a lot of panic. He thought that maybe another ACT Monster had appeared but then considered that the Towns residents probably saw the Demon’s huge form even from this far away.

He looked at Nays, “Would you mind maybe not mentioning the whole demon summoning this to anyone?

It would probably cause unnecessary panic.”

Nays nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t think people would take it too well. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Mason let out a sigh of relief as they continued their walk towards the Town. He couldn’t wait to get back to training. Hopefully, Mayry would forgive him for whatever it was he did and introduce him to the trainer.

Thinking of Mayry, she appeared from the Town gate and ran towards him, looking frantic. She ran right up to him and hugged him. Pulling back, she asked, “Did you see it?”

Mason opened his mouth to answer, but Mayry cut him off. Her eyes narrowed and aimed at him, she asked in a whisper. “Mason, please, please tell me you didn’t summon a demon!?”

==========================================

She had been waiting at the Town gate ever since the massive figure had appeared. There had been whispers that it was a Demon. The Town was in a total panic, far worse than when the Basilisk had been spotted. The Towns guard were running around trying to keep the peace while also preparing for an unwinnable fight. They had even started arming some civilians with bows and swords as if that would be any help against an actual Demon.

She had been out getting lunch when it appeared. She had instantly dropped to her knees, an awfully loud high pitch noise blaring inside her head. She gritted her teeth and looked around, but she seemed to be the only one who had been affected. Everyone else was staring at the disgustingly terrifying creature who was just standing there back to the Town.

When it started running, it created shockwaves that made the buildings of the Town shake even with it being so far away.

The high pitch noise didn’t let up or change but stayed painfully ringing in her head. If she focused on the noise, she could almost hear wor

…

…

She knew Mason was out there with that Elf. She was worried that if he saw the Massive Monster, he’d try and start a fight with it, a fight which would get him killed instantly.

It was strange, Mason did end up in the middle of things a lot. If he got involved here, it would be just his luck…

Now that she thought of it…he couldn’t of… no, that was ridiculous…. Although…he did have that ability that summoned a random creature… that wouldn’t have been able to summon a Demon, surely?

…For fuck sake Mason. She hadn’t known the man long, but it was definitely the sort of crap that would happen around him. If he had actually managed to summon a fucking Demon, she was going to kick the crap out of him.

Maybe she was overthinking this. It was probably just an ACT, and the thing was just a Giant and not a Demon. She kept telling herself that, but for some reason, her brain brought her back to her Mason theory.

With no warning, the noise in her head changed. It became an indescribably awful noise that she somehow recognised as laughter. It continued for a while. Then the Demon was gone and the noises in her head along with it.

She was losing her mind. She went for a quick visit to Viv’s alchemy shop for something to soothe her aching head, then returned to the Town gate, hoping and praying that Mason wasn’t the cause of the Demon and he was completely uninvolved with the whole ordeal.

She scoffed at her own thought and continued to wait.

It had been a few hours since the Demon had disappeared. She was debating with herself whether or not she should go out and for Mason when she finally caught sight of the two of them. Seemingly uninjured, they walked leisurely toward the Town.

Mayry ran towards them, practically tackling Mason into a hug. She needed to know. She pulled back from the hug slightly and asked. “Did you see it?”

He kept a perfectly straight face and opened his mouth to answer her. Nays, fortunately for Mayry, was particularly bad at keeping her emotions from her face.

She cut Mason off before he could say a word. She narrowed her eyes at him and whispered, “Mason, please, please tell me you didn’t summon a demon!?”

His eyes widened a fraction, which she took as an admission of guilt, until he chided her defensively, “Mayry!”

Her shoulders sagged a little in relief. If he said he didn’t, then she would believe him.

“Of course, I didn’t. I wouldn’t even know how to start to do something like that.” Mayry took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, the tension leaving her. “I summoned the echo of a Demon, totally a different thing.”

Her jaw dropped. She stared at him incredulously.

After the staring continued past the two-minute mark, Mason looked down at her and asked, “Are you okay? Oh shit, I think I broke her.”

Mayry opened and closed her mouth a few times, a mix of confusion at his words and anger at his blasé attitude, trying to get words to come out. Eventually, she managed to growl out, “Tell me everything.”

And so he did. He explained everything up to the Vespara appearing, and then he paused.

Mayry spoke up when his story seemed to end without a single mention of the Demon.

“Okay, so the Vespara appeared… Nays went all doe-eyed, fine. But how did this end up with a Demon appearing?”

=========================================

Mason didn’t want to lie to Mayry, but he just couldn’t bring himself to admit that he’d accidentally said the word she had warned him never to say, and by warned, he meant threatened to kill him if he ever said it.

“Well, I tried to shoot the wasp thing with a Magic Missile, but it went right through it” He chanced a look up at her face to gauge her reaction. “so I used my summon creature ability and poof, an echo of a Demon appeared. We ran, got away, and it disappeared after a while.”

She frowned but looked up and hugged him again. “It wasn’t your fault. No one got hurt. That’s what matters. The Town is crazy at the moment, so I’ll have to introduce you to the trainer I found tomorrow. You should probably go back to your room and lay low for a bit. I’ll meet you there later?”

Mason nodded and headed off toward the Inn.

Nays followed him, “For someone you insist isn’t your girlfriend, she tells you what to do a lot, and she’s going to meet you in your room later?” Nays asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah… I think she’s just used to being the one in charge, and you’ve been in my room too, you know.”

Nays rolled her eyes, “Yeah, when we were hiding from the guards searching for you, it wasn’t exactly a romantic encounter, was it?”

“Well, either of you is welcome anytime, ’Romantic encounter’ or not.”

They entered the inn and walked over to the stairs leading up to Mason’s room, they hugged goodbye, and Mason headed up the stairs while Nays stayed behind to gossip with the receptionist working the desk.

The last thing Mason heard before he turned the corner was the receptionist asking Nays, “Did you hear? Apparently, the Mayor collapsed when the Demon appeared.”